Viewing the global health system as a complex adaptive system – implications for research and practice [version 1; peer review: 1 approved]
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F1000 Research
Abstract
The global health system (GHS) is ill-equipped to deal with the
increasing number of transnational challenges. The GHS needs reform
to enhance global resilience to future risks to health. In this article we
argue that the starting point for any reform must be conceptualizing
and studying the GHS as a complex adaptive system (CAS) with a large
and escalating number of interconnected global health actors that
learn and adapt their behaviours in response to each other and
changes in their environment. The GHS can be viewed as a multi-scalar, nested health system comprising all national health systems
together with the global health architecture, in which behaviours are
influenced by cross-scale interactions. However, current methods
cannot adequately capture the dynamism or complexity of the GHS or
quantify the effects of challenges or potential reform options. We
provide an overview of a selection of systems thinking and complexity
science methods available to researchers and highlight the numerous policy insights their application could yield. We also discuss the
challenges for researchers of applying these methods and for policy
makers of digesting and acting upon them. We encourage application
of a CAS approach to GHS research and policy making to help bolster
resilience to future risks that transcend national boundaries and
system scales.
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Research Article
Citation
How to cite this article: Borghi J, Ismail S, Hollway J et al. Viewing the global health system as a complex adaptive system – implications for research and practice [version 1; peer review: 1 approved] F1000Research 2022, 11:1147 https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.126201.1